A Blast from your Pop-Music Past

Sweet - Hellraiser

I was 16 and started to get mildly rebellious, growing my hair and enjoying songs like this (glam rock), to the consternation of my rather conservative parents. Every time I hear it again, I smile and think back.

The summer of 1973 was the first time I started to pay attention to the charts and top40 style radio. This abomination was inescapable in the Netherlands.

Far better, from the same summer:

This was a hit in the Netherlands when I was sixteen. A Dutch band who made progressive rock albums and high quality hit singles. In the period from 1970 until 1983 they scored 18 Dutch top40 hits, including two that made it to number one. And they had a female lead singer who scored high on looks, but also on voice.

Earth and Fire - Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight

It's funny how some songs will always remind you of key moments in your life.

Human League - Don't you want me


This will always remind me of my first serious love around 1982, one of two that "got away" (in the sense that I could have seen us getting married), before I finally met the love of my life.

Hi ho silver lining - Jeff Beck (RIP)

Around 1973 I bought one of those K-Tel or Arcade compilation LP records with hits of the sixties. This was one of the 20 squeezed on the vinyl. RIP Jeff Beck.

Wet Day in September by Pussycat (1978)

Pussycat were a country pop group from the south of Limburg, formed around three singing sisters. With their debut single Mississippi from 1975 they scored an international hit, hitting the #1 position in many European countries, including the UK. All in all they charted with 15 songs in the Dutch top 40 in the period 1975-1983, including seven top ten hits, of which Mississippi and My Broken Souvenirs made #1. Wet Day in September topped at #7, and is one of my two favourite songs from the band.

The Cats were one of the most successful pop groups from the Netherlands. They hail from the tiny fishing village of Volendam near Amsterdam, and inspired so many others from there to start a band, that the name Palingsound (Eel Sound) was coined for this particular style of radio-friendly music by groups from Volendam. From 1966 until 1985 they scored 36 hits in the Dutch top40, five of them reaching #1. Rock & Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life), to give it the full official title, is a cover of a Kevin Johnson song, and is one of my favourites in their repertoire. It peaked at #3 in 1974.

Mammoth by Kayak (1973)

Kayak are a progressive rock band, who in addition to their albums (which are of general high quality) scored nine top40 hits in the period 1973-1980, including one top 10 hit. Mammoth was their second hit, peaking at #18. It stands out because of the use of a Dutch street organ.

Kites (Simon Dupree and the Big Sound)

Simon Dupree and the Big Sound were a British psychedelic band formed in 1966, and dissolved in 1969, after which the core members formed the prog band Gentle Giant. They released only one studio album, and their only big hit was not included on it. Kites is the only sixties' one-hit-wonder that has stood the test of time for me. The band hated it, but their manager loved it, as its psychedelic sound was exactly right for the time. The colourful tones of the mellotron create a distinctly Asian atmosphere, enhanced by the images of the lyrics (the white kite flying in the sun, with a message of love on it), and topped off by the recitation of an Asian sounding poem by actress Jacqui Chan, who apparently reproduced phonetics taught to her by her grandmother with the result that no-one knows what she is saying or even what language it is in.

Carpenters - Yesterday once more (1973)


Appropriate title for the thread.

About 15 years ago, on a cold night outside Beijing my wife and I sang this (a capella) at a barbecue arranged by local artists.

Weekend Love by Golden Earring (1979)

Golden Earring (originally The Golden Earrings) were a rock band from the Hague. Their music was mainly melodious rock with progressive tendencies. They were one of the most successful Dutch bands, scoring international hits with Radar Love (1973) and Twilight Zone (1982). Their successes in the Netherlands were astonishing: 47 top40 hits from 1965 until 2005, 22 of which made the top10, and five the number one spot. Weekend Love, with guitar player George Kooymans rather than Barry Hay as singer, topped at #3, and is one of my personal favourites in their repertoire.

Time of the season (Zombies)

The Zombies are a British rock band formed in 1961, led by keyboardist and vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The band fell apart in 1967 after two studio albums, but several reunions and five more albums followed over the years. Time of the season, a track from the 1968 album Odessey and Oracle, is the masterpiece of this still underrated band. This song has some quite unusual influences (certainly for that time), with a dominating African beat and instrumentation, and great jazzy organ sounds. Also the lyrics are special in their cynical way: "What's your name, who's your daddy - is he rich like me?"

David Bowie - China Girl

I remember how much I loved this song when it was released - not knowing what the future had in store for me.....

My wife was busy before breakfast making a video for her Shanghai friends, and looking for music shecame across a thirties song on YT called Lulu's back in town (her own name is Lu, nickname Lulu). YT also suggested to listen to a song by Lulu, so she did. I mentioned Lulu also had a hit in the seventies with David Bowie (one of our favourite artists), so she played that next, and well here it is for this thread.


Lulu - The Man Who Sold The World (1974)

Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol

A hit in continental Europe in 1973 for Italian rocker Adriano Celentano. He got fed up with the increased popularity of English pop songs in Italy, so as a protest he recorded this song in complete gibberish, but supposed to sound like English. It was a huge hit in Italy, and later in other countries as well.

The Opera by Dizzy Man's Band (1975)

Dizzy Man's Band from Zaandam were a unique feature in the Dutch pop scene with their fun songs - although there was a lot of musicality behind the farce. They managed 15 top40 hits in the period from 1970 until 1978. The Opera was their biggest hit (#2 in the charts). It would be almost 20 years later that I actually listened to my first opera.....

Suzi Quatro - Can the Can (1973)

I was 16, and she was my first crush from the music scene. My mother would have had a fit if I had brought home a girl like that (Suzi even had an album titled Your Mamma Won't Like Me).

Xenophiliu said:

Anne Murray - Snowbird (1970)

Click to expand...

Anne Murray - You Needed Me (1979)

On one of our first dates in Singapore, we sang this as a duet in Karaoke. It will always be special to us.

Gerry & The Pacemakers - Ferry Cross The Mersey (1965)

This remains one of my favourite hits from the sixties. Such a beautiful ballad.

ABBA - SOS

They had a top10 hit in the Netherlands before Waterloo made their name in the world, but this was the first song that was so good (imo) that I started to think they were better than the average chart band. A few more outstanding songs followed, but this one will always be dear to me.